Emergency Commander Collection Program
by Ezrena
Summary: A story about a young man who earns his happy ending with friends and cute girls.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: ECCP

I, Ezra Roth, was doing my usual things; taking a nap. It was a great nap, but then I was shaken awake by my step-father, he said there was someone at the door. I thought it was Nathan, so I was kinda hyped. I got dressed, and instead of my hippie friend, I was met with someone in a white coat; a short, blue haired girl with weird eyes, she tried to introduce herself first, but the guy interrupted her.

"Gotland, slow down. You'll scare him," the man said, putting his hand on her head. Him, on the other hand, he looked like a fierce man, must've been through some tough times, from the scars on his face. His hair was black and slicked back, and his pupils were small. If I was anyone else, I'd probably be intimidated, but it was broad daylight, he wasn't gonna do anything, and he had a girl with him. So unless they're like Bonnie and Clyde or something, I have nothing to worry about.

"What's up?" I asked, amused by the upset face the girl was making at him. He sighed and began explaining something to me about how some war needs young people to lead. I was confused, I hadn't heard anything. When I inquired, he showed me a graph of how much control of the oceans we've lost due to something called "Abyssals," It was about 64%. I questioned why they would want someone like me as a leader, and they said it was entirely random. But the blue haired girl spoke again.

"I think he looks capable, I can see it in his face." She pointed, making the guy she was accompanying freak out a bit.

"Don't point, it's rude." He bowed his head to me, and his friend laughed.

"It's fine, bro." I laughed, and looked at the girl, who's name was Gotland apparently.

"I'm in, I guess, if my parents say it's okay." I couldn't just leave without them, that'd be a dick move. So after I explained I had to call my actual father, too, they said they'd return tomorrow. So, after a lengthy talk with my mother, who was entirely opposed, and my father, who was also entirely opposed, and my stepdad, who was like 'you got this man.' I was finally able to give them my verdict.

"So, whaddaya say boy?" The blue haired girl jumped at me, getting in my face. Normally I'd be threatened, but she seemed cool, so I just responded.

"Yeah, let's go." I gave a thumbs up and then watched her turn around.

"Told you, Commander! I told you he would join!" She laughed, folding her arms confidently, and going to stand beside him again, nudging him with her shoulder. He was agitated, clearly, but didn't let it get to him. They lead the way to a big transport truck, and I sat in the back with a dude in samurai armor, a redhead girl, a little… bear thing, and some guy who looked like he didn't have his life together.

"Hey, man," Great, I thought, the fallen apart guy was talking to me.

"What?" I asked, making my distaste for him known.

"Hey, you asshole, I'm just asking for a light." He growled at me, and gave me a glare.

"No." I responded, and he pulled his arm back.

"Don't try it." The big guy in samurai armor said, smashing the guy's shoulder with the hilt of his sword. It made me laugh because the guy's reaction was so overplayed, he wasn't hit that hard but acted like it just broke his shoulder.

"Apologies for our compatriot." Him and the bear thing folded their hands and bowed their head to me.

"It's not your fault." I assured them, trying to give them a genuine smile. These guys were cool, I didn't know about the other two yet. After a bit of talking, I learned about how cool this samurai guy was, and how tall he was when he stood up, had to be over 2 meters or something because he hit his head on the way up. The guy in white lead us out, and then up some long, tail stairs. He got up on a box of ammunition.

"Friends, I've gathered you all today because you've been specially selected by our Emergency Commander Collection Program. The threat to our oceans has recently become too hard for our forces to handle alone. You will not be working directly together, but, you will each be assigned to your own naval base. We'll take you to the Californian base first."


	2. Chapter 2:

Chapter Two: Fubuki

We arrived at the California naval base, and walked up a set of long set of tall stairs. By the ocean were a group of girls, all varied in looks, a cherry haired girl with matching eyes, a blue haired girl, also with matching eyes, a white haired girl with red eyes, a girl with dark hair and brown eyes, and finally, a really short girl who looked like a child; she had brown hair and yellow eyes.

"Greetings-" The blue haired girl went to speak first, but she fell on her face. I had to stop myself from laughing, but I was more amazed when she just waved her hand over her face, and her wounds healed. It was peculiar, but I thought it'd be explained later?

"This is Samidare." Gotland introduced, smiling and walking around.

"If you're wondering about those wounds healing like that, their human parts don't matter, essentially. Only their equipment is part of their life force. It still hurts, though, so don't go being reckless." The man in white said, arms behind his back. Then the little brown haired girl spoke up.

"Hi! I'm Inazuma! I'll be glad to assist you, Commanders!" She spoke with a sparkle in her eyes, eager to be chosen.

"I'm Sazanami, it'll be a pleasure to serve you, young masters." The cherry headed girl spoke, hand on her chest, and bowing her head. Right as the white haired girl went up to introduce herself, one of the abyssals leapt from the water, casting a shadow over me and the girl. The thing's cannon charged, and all I could do was think 'Fuck.' But before death could get its hands on me, I noticed a flash of red from behind all of the girls. The dark haired girl in the way back jumped just as high as our attacker, and punched it in the head so hard it exploded.

"You could've killed one of-!" The scummy looking guy started, but I stuck my fingers in his sides, making him collapse. It was too late, though, the badass girl suddenly collapses to her knees, and bowed her head repeatedly.

"Shut up, dumbass." I said, going over to the warbling girl on the ground, and pulling her up.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." She repeated, crying. Not sobbing, but her eyes were watery.

"It's fine, I promise. Thank you for saving us." Once again, the girl remained silent. I gave her a bright smile, and then walked back to where I was. The white haired girl took this opportunity to introduce herself.

"I'm Murakumo, pleased to see you all." She smirked, hands on her hips, looking about as prideful as me.

"F-Fubuki, at your service!" Spoke the girl that just saved my ass from getting blasted by some sort of laser thing. I kept my smile, but my arms folded. Can't seem too soft in front of everyone.

"You'll pick your starter ships through rolls of the dice." The man in white said, giving us all a red D6. We all rolled, Cody, the scumbag; scored a six. Niho, the samurai, rolled a four. Katie, the girl, rolled a three. And finally, my roll, it was a one. Cody chose the little girl, Inazuma. Niho chose the bluenette, Samidare, the girl chose the cherry headed girl, Sazanmi, and I chose Fubuki. Murakumo looked offended that nobody picked her, her arms said angry, but her eyes gave off a feeling of sadness. Then something clicked in my feeble mind; we forgot the bear guy.

""Fuck." I said aloud, and ran back to the staircase. And there he was, at the bottom of the stairs. I didn't mind that I almost tripped on my way down, I just disrespected this guy majorly. I picked him up, and ran back to the group. I was out of breath because I was really out of shape, but the praise I got from Niho made me feel good about myself.

"...you did a good thing." He whispered to me, barely audible over Murakumo squealing.

"Look at him! He's so cute!" The former devil-looking girl cheered, jumping in place a bit.

"..." The guy couldn't talk, I presume, so he just signed for 'her.' Niho had taught me a bit of sign language on the way here, they're long time friends apparently. I'll have to swing by his place sometime to fully learn so I can communicate with him. I also learned that his name was Kairos, so that's pretty cool.

"You also get to pick your naval bases, the choices are Calinfornia, Amaga-" The man in white begun to explain.

"California." I said, Fubuki scolded me for being so rash, but I didn't want to travel for a bit. So, while the others were getting ready to travel for god knows how long, we got toured around the base by a short, skinny woman with yellow eyes and gray-blue hair, her name was Irako. She showed us to the cafeteria, where we met a tall, thick brunette with red eyes, her name was Mamiya. Then to the construction site, where we met a salmon haired girl named Akashi, she had brown eyes, a skinny figure, and a confident air about her that made me feel good about being here. And finally, to the Commander's office, where we met a cute, dark haired, blue eyed girl with glasses, her name was Ooyodo. She left for the control room after giving me a briefing of our current goals. When she was gone, I sat down in my commander's chair, looking to Fubuki who was in the secretary chair beside the desk.

"What do we do?" I asked, not sure what to start with.

"I-I don't know!" She said, lowering her head a bit.

"Are you fubukidding me?" I was confused, she took down that thing like she had fought so many things. I thought she'd be experienced.

"N-Nobody ever picks me! I-I swear I don't know!" She was actually inexperienced, I felt bad for putting her on the spot like that, now.

"Don't worry." I said, going up to help her to her feet. I wasn't very tall for a guy, but she was the same height as me, 5'6, so looking right into her teary eyes made me really feel like a jackass.

"I'm sorry I freaked out." Fubuki mumbled, lowering her head.

"Hey, I said it's fine." I assured her, gripping her hand for a moment, and lifting her chin with a tap.

"R-Right." She nodded, wiping her eyes, and giving me a smile. She had such a cute smile, I decided from there that I'd protect it.

"Let's go see if Akashi can make us anything." I suggested, letting go of her hand, and started walking back to the construction site.

"Coming!" She smiled, eyes still a bit red, but otherwise happy. That made me feel good.

"Hello Commander!" Akashi greeted me, saluting and standing at attention.

"Good day, Akashi." I smiled, thinking about what to say. I didn't really know how to ask that question, so my force contorted into some sort of smirk. Fubuki, realizing my hopelessness, asked the woman for me.

"He wants to see if we have enough supplies to construct anything." Fubuki says, bowing her head to Akashi.

"Well, of course. But we should start small." The pinkette nods, going to the loading bay.

"How many, Commander?" Fubuki asked me, then I took a moment to think.

"How many friends do you want?" I asked, looking at her intently.

"U-Uh..." She stammered.

"That's such a weird question!" Akashi laughed, her shoulders bouncing as she did.

"T-Two! Two friends- er, partners." Fubuki managed.

"We'll take two then." I nodded, feeling like an idiot yet again. She said it'd take a few hours.

"Uuugh, really?" Fubuki groaned, looking upset that she'd have no friends for a bit longer than she would've liked.

"You hungry?" I turned to her, and offered that solution to pass the time.

"Uh, yeah, a bit." She smiled, and followed me to the cafeteria.

"Hello, Commander." Mamiya greeted us cheerily, giving a salute then pointing to the menu on the wall.

"Oh, it's curry day, Commander!" Fubuki told me, grabbing my shoulder and jumping up and down with excitement I didn't think possible from her.

"I've never had curry before." I thought it over, and decided to try it.

"Can we get some curry, please, Commander?" Fubuki was sparkling, not like I was going to say no anyway.

"Alright, goof, calm down." I laughed, asking Mamiya for the curry, then going to sit down. It felt empty besides my now hyperactive friend's energy.

"Thank you, commander!" She smiled, twirling around on the seat.

"It's curry, you goon." I smiled, just watching her dance around.

"I've only heard of it before from the other girls!" Fubuki told me, and it made me think…

"Have your previous commanders not fed you?" I inquired, my eyebrows doing what my brother would call the 'angry thing.'

"Only when necessary." She told me, sitting back down and looking upset again.

"Well, I'll feed you all you want." I smirked at her, hiding my anger with the help of acting classes taken earlier in life.

"Thank you, Commander." The girl responded, looking at me with a ray of hope that made my rage disappear.

"Curry!" Mamiya cooed, bringing us plates of rice and potent smelling curry.

"Come on, Fubuki, try it." I laughed a bit to myself, she had no idea it was gonna be spicy. I made a gesture for some milk to Mamiya so that this joke wouldn't be too harmful. She passed it to me while Fubuki took a big bite of the dish.

"It's hot!" She yelled, eating some more.

"...what a madwoman..." I smiled to myself, and began to eat some, too.

"Watch out, it really is hot." Mamiya informed, getting another little carton of milk.

"Shit, it really is hot!" I fanned my mouth with my hand, and went for the carton of milk that Fubuki had already opened. It was empty! She drank all of it, damn. While my mouth was hotter than the sahara, I opened the other thing of milk and drank it all in one gulp. After that, I was breathing heavily. How was I gonna finish this? I just decided to get some more milk and eat the rest, quickly. And I hated milk, so this was terrible. By the time I came back, Fubuki had started on her rice. I finished the curry with some effort, and noticed how late it was. I poured the rice down my mouth hole, then stretched.

"The bunksh are thish way, Commander." Fubuki said, cheeks wide and full of food. She looked like a chipmunk, and I thought it was hilarious. I wheezed and almost choked on my laughter. The tired, everything is funny must be setting in.

"No- stop it." I kept laughing, which made her laugh.

"Commander, shtop I'm eating." She snorted, holding her mouth, gaining her composure to swallow, then laughing along the way with me. We had the same bunk room, her on the top bunk, and me on the bottom. It felt kinda weird bunking in the same room as her, but it was probably just conditioning. I went to bed feeling pretty good about myself.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three: New girls and sorties

I woke up to the room being a bit more crowded than it felt last night. When I sat up, I looked over to see Fubuki's bunk being crowded by two thin figures. One with a white outfit and brown hair, the other with a black outfit and purple hair.

"Hey!" I said, getting up and walking over.

"Aaaah, he's got no shirt, kuma!" The brown haired girl squealed, pointing at me. I looked at myself and realized I was shirtless, damn my sleeping habits.

"Ah, shit!" I ran back to get my shirt, not even thinking. I guess I was too focused on my friend.

"What a weirdo." The purple haired girl smirked, looking back towards Fubuki.

"Move." I ordered, and they did. I looked to see if anything was wrong, and there wasn't. She was just sleeping.

"What're you doing, kuma?" Was what I heard, but I didn't turn around.

"You guys scared me, sorry." I thought something might have happened to her, so I was kinda spooked.

"Who're you, kuma?" The same voice, so I figured it was Kuma; the brown haired girl.

"I'm Ezra, Commander of this base." I told them, folding my arms.

"Oh, good to meet you, Commander! I'm Hagikaze!" The purple haired girl exclaimed, rather excitedly.

"I'm Kuma, kuma!" She had some sort of strange tic, I think. It's not annoying yet, so I won't say anything.

"Good to have you." I folded my hands and bowed my head to them, I was glad we got some cool people, these girls looked nice.

"Commander..?" Spoke the faint voice of my friend, she was getting up in her bed.

"Hey, Fubuki." I responded, turning away and going to help her up.

"Morning..." She smiled, yawning and wiping the tired from her eyes. Her hair was messy so she looked kinda goofy.

"Well, all of you get situated, I have things to do." I walked to the door, and left to do Commander things.

**[FUBUKI]**

I looked at the two girls before me, and scratched my head.

"Ah… Good to meet you, I'm Fubuki." I introduced, bowing my head.

"I'm Hagikaze, and this Kuma." The taller of the two said, returning the gesture to me.

"Let's go battle, Kuma!" Kuma suggested, grabbing our hands and pulling us with brute strength.

"I'm not ready yet!" I shouted, trying to pull away, but it was futile; she was too powerful. I ended up on a sortie without my underwear. It was cold, too!

"We'll get some cool stuff for the commander!" Hagikaze told me, easing me up a bit.

"Let's go!" I smirked, moving ahead of our little triangle formation, Kuma taking her place behind me. We encountered about 1 abyssal every 100 meters, I was glad there weren't too many, and that none of them were human shaped. Just the weird whale things. It only took about two shots from each of us to bring one down. But, after a bit, we started encountering more, we had to maneuver carefully, but urgently to not get hit by the 6+ things firing us at once. We were out there for hours, and it felt like we were just fighting basic things, until they just stopped. We were moving for a long time without even the slightest of engagements. Just then, we saw bubbles fly past us. A torpedo!

"Where's it coming from, kuma?!" Yours truly yelled, sounding worried.

"Submarine!" I responded, jetting forward and making a handsign to scatter. They listened, and we began to try and surround the thing. It had to resurface eventually, so we avoided it until it did, and unloaded into it. We took its gas mask and some of the other stuff it left behind. Now to make our way back, that was uneventful. We went to Ezra's office to show him what we got, but he wasn't there.

"Where is he, kuma?" She sounded kind of upset.

"Weird, Commanders are supposed to be around to give orders." Hagikaze seemed annoyed, too.

"Do you think he bailed?" I sighed, setting everything down and started doubting myself. Were we too weird? Did we make him uncomfortable? Just then, we heard the sound of trucks. So we went to investigate and saw him directing some of said trucks. He was wearing glasses, so when I got closer, I couldn't help but laugh. He looked so goofy, his apathetic eyes actually looked kinda normal.

"Hey, 'Buki." He greeted, acting like it didn't seem like he had abandoned us. He had a wardrobe change, too. A dark green coat with red, spiked shoulder armor, a weird, all-black pickelhaube with an American flag sticker on it, and some black boots.

"There he is, kuma!" She squealed, going to jump on him.

"Ah, hey! Watch-" He spoke as he was almost knocked over, but he managed to catch her, it wouldn't last long, though, I could see it in his arms.

"We're back from our sortie, Commander!" She said to him, squeezing her arms around her neck.

"Uh…. Cool." Ezra responded, looking over to me, and mouthing 'what's a sortie?'

"Sign here, sir." One of the drivers speaks to him, coming over with a clipboard. He holds Kuma on one arm for a moment, filling out the files with the other.

"Thanks for the help!" He beamed cheerfully, shooting the guy a fingergun.

"Your arm's shaking, kuma." Kuma observed, before he set her down, feeling his arms.

"Are you okay, sir?" Hagikaze went over to ask, feeling his arms.

"Don't do that. That's weird." He snarled, yanking his arms away, which made them both giggle.

"Fubuki!" He must've noticed something, because he ran over and looked at me.

"What, Commander?" I asked, suddenly worried.

"Your shirt's ripped, are you okay?" He told me, putting his hand where my skin was exposed.

"U-Uh yeah, I'm fine!" I was kinda shocked, his hand felt warm on my side, but,I kinda liked it.

"Your cannon, too. It's bent." Ezra continued, putting his other hand on my wrist-mounted gun.

"Fubuki's really tough, Commander." Hagikaze said, coming over.

"Yeah, kuma! She saved us a lot, her eyes turned red and she beat a lot of them up sometimes!" Kuma smiled, coming over, too. It felt nice being praised and worried about.

"You guys must've gotten hurt, too." Our commander spoke, taking his hands from my gun and my side, then folding his arms.

"Sir, please-" Hagikaze tired to speak, but he interrupted her.

"Go get repaired, I'll unpack this." That was order, so we followed, going to the docks. We wouldn't have to be in there for very long, so maybe we could help him load all the cargo. The hot water felt nice, and the other two seemed to enjoy it, too.

"Don't swim in the water, Kuma." Hagikaze scolded, and Kuma just spat hot water at her.

"It's just us, kuma." She responded, paddling around a bit, and Hagi just stopped trying at this point. I felt nice and warm, I finally had friends and a Commander that didn't hate me. And if he did, he was terrible at hating me.

"Thanks, guys." I said, randomly, causing them to look at me in confusion.

"Huh, kuma?" She asked, Hagikaze responding the same, but without the tic.

"Thanks for being my friends, I'm glad to have you." I smiled, getting up when our times were up.

"No problem, girl." My purple haired friend smirked, coming over and putting her arm around me once we were dressed.

"We'll be great friends, kuma." She added, already running off to meet Ezra. We followed, and found all the trucks empty, and just setting off.

"Silly Commander, kuma." She giggled.

"Yeah, what's he thinking doing all that by himself?" Hagi added, folding her arms. After some waiting, we went back to his office, where he was filling out some paperwork.

"Hey, girls." He said, giving us a raised hand and then continuing eating his mac and cheese while signing his papers.

"What's that?" Hagikaze asked, leaning over to see the bowl.

"Rations, for me." Ezra said, pushing his curly hair from his face.

"Is that what those trucks were full of?" I asked, hands on the table.

"No, there were only five, and four of them were for you and future girls." He responded, slicking his hair back after taking off his helmet, not even fazed by my aggressiveness. There was some burn mark on his forehead.

"What's that, kuma?" Came her little voice, before poking his cheek and making him look up.

"Another commander put out his cigarette on me." He stated, looking back down.

"Are you okay, Commander?" Hagikaze asked next, coming over behind his desk to look at him.

"Yeah, I am." He snickered, looking cocky about himself.

"Oh yeah?" I asked, folding my arms.

"Yeah, I chopped his neck and some redhead had to carry him back to the transport." Ezra laughed some more, his smirk never swaying as he wrote his name countless times.

"Shouldn't you tell some-" Hagikaze went to suggest something, but he waved his hands.

"Nah, I dealt with it." He assured, giving us some fingerguns and a confident smirk, I swear it sparkled.

"...commander likes violence, kuma..." She whispered to us, her ahoge twirling up, back to life.

"You did good, Commander." I spoke up, and my words seemed to shock him.

"What?" He inquired, giving me his usual look.

"I say you did good, if he did something to you and you did something to him, it's only fair." I didn't waver, because I actually supported him.

"...thank you, Fubuki." He was quieter, now, less arrogant-looking, too.

"Well, what's next, kuma?" Our airheaded friend asked, leaning over the table like the rest of us.

"Well…" Ezra began…


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four: Kairos

**[EZRA]**

"Well, I think we should get some more manpower, then go to meet our friends. Sound good?" I asked, looking to each of them. I could tell their brains were working, so I went to go see Akashi.

"Hello, Commander!" She saluted, standing at attention.

"Don't do that." I laughed, wiping something from my eye, it felt so weird to be respected like that. Normally people just called me stupid if I asked for something.

"Yes sir." The girl smiled, folding her hands.

"Think you could make us two more? We need a whole squad." I asked, folding mine and lowering my head.

"Of course, Commander, I'm here to serve you. Would you like an express construction?" She assured me, bowing her head, then proposing her question.

"Oh, yeah, if we have the resources, that'd be great." I didn't know that was possible, it seems to break the basics of… construction.

"Heeeey, kuma!" I heard the squad walk in with that, Hagi's heels made a distinct sound so I knew everyone was there, because Fubuki would never be alone.

"Hey, nerds." I smiled, looking back.

"Oh, is there construction going on?" Hagikaze looked interested, walking ahead to see who was going to be present.

"Large construction, too, so we could get someone powerful." Akashi explained to us, showing us the bigger chambers.

"It should only take a few seconds." I said, pulling up a chair and resting my legs a bit. After some allocating. Then, two new girls came out, both at incredible speed, and both posing. A purple haired girl with nice… features. And a giant brunette who looked like she could choke me with just one hand.

"Where are you looking, kuma?" She inquired, looking at me like I just did something wrong.

"Over your head, midget." I retorted, going to welcome our new guests.

"Commander!" The tall one said, tackling me and lifting me up so she could look at me. "I like him, he's small." She laughed, and held me under her arm. "Who's the secretary around here?" In my observation, she looked and talked different, but still wore some japanese clothes like the rest did. I didn't know much about history, so I figured her soul must come from somewhere else.

"Look at this..." The purple haired girl said, crouching in front of us with some sort of camera. She was taking lots of pictures, mainly of the both of us. But, while that was happening, Fubuki was pushed forward by the other two, looking rightfully spooked by these two weirdos.

"Secretary Fubuki!" My friend shouted, arms behind her back, giving her an admittedly respectable appearance. I expected it not to work, but the tall, brutal brunette put me down and the purple haired girl stopped her antics. They must've seen something I didn't. "I'm the secretary, and that's our Commander; his name is Ezra." She remained calm, which made my heart swell with pride.

"Good to meet you, Commander." The purple haired girl continued, pulling me in for a squeeze. However, I heard a territorial noise before I could respond. I was on the ground, and the other girl was, too, but some distance away from me. Kuma was standing over me, facing away.

"Don't touch my Commander, kuma!" Her arms were out, and her hair was standing up like an actual animal would.

"They're harmless, just like you." I smiled, moving up to my feet and hugging the short girl from behind. "But, thank you for protecting me." Dusting myself off, I went to go pick up the new girl. She was heavier than the others, but I got her up.

"Thanks, Commander." The girl said, leaning up again to squeeze me. I held her back and heard the sounds of offense from everyone else.

"How come you hug her, kuma!" She flailed her arms, pouting and huffing at me. "You're so mean, Commander!" I almost felt bad, but then I realized I was the one who carried her to bed every night, and just brushed it off. I would hug her, later, though. Fubuki and Hagikaze, however, got to me.

"You've never hugged me before, Commander..." Hagikaze was holding her hair, looking down. I realized I never had, and I actually felt bad that time. So I walked over, and slid my arms around her, pulling her in with a squeeze.

"It may not feel genuine," I spoke as softly as I could, using a voice I didn't know I had. "But I do love you, and I appreciate the work you do for me and the team." I moved my hand up and down her back while I spoke, trying my best to be comforting.

"Thank you, Commander." Her voice faltered for a bit, but she didn't crack. Feeling her warmth against me, though, made me think Was I really that important to these people? The way Hagikaze had her hands on my shoulders and her nose in my chest, it felt too unreal. I know I didn't deserve it, but I was getting it. "That helped a lot..." When she pulled away, she was wiping her eyes.

"My turn!" It was the brown haired girl, she jumped on me, but from carrying Kuma around consistently, my strength had improved. I held her , and slowly lowered her to a standing position. I couldn't exactly hold her, because I only came up to her stomach, but she seemed to appreciate my hug anyway. She was patting my head, and feeling like an older sister.

"I'm Kongou," She beamed, giving me a thumbs up, her smirk sparkling with charisma. She was wearing some kind of miko, not like I knew what that was. The other one, Aoba, had explained it to me. When Kongou let go, there were only two left.

"Hey, Fubuki." I called, walking over, lightly picking her up by the waist when I went to hug her.

"H-Hello Commander." She smiled, squeezing my shoulders. When I put her down, she looked kind of disappointed, but just put her arms under mine and set her head on my shoulder. "Thanks for giving me a good life..." Fubuki was warm, too, and she squeezed me tighter than anyone ever had. Feeling her hands on my upper back gave me butterflies, so I pulled away when time had felt sufficient.

"Me next, kuma!" She ran over and jumped into my arms, I held her up from under her legs, and carried her around a bit, her small arms around my neck were quite comforting. This must be what it's like to be a proper person. Well, as normal or proper as it gets with a family of superpowered girls and stuff.

"Hey, silly, no sleeping." I teased, poking her nose before she could fall asleep. She moved her head up, sneezing all over my face.

"Heheh, kuma…" She laughed, wiping her nose on her arm. "Alright..." She yawned, and stretched, almost falling off of my arm, but I let her back rest against my chest. I finally lowered her down, and we both gave each other a smile. "Time to go, kuma!" She exclaimed, grabbing my hand, and leading me to the transport trucks. I called Kairos to let him know I was coming.

_At Kairos'' _

After the long plane ride to the Yukon military base. Canada, man, I love it here. I should've waited to pick!

"Hey!" I greeted the two at the door. A girl with green twintails, a thin figure, and an oddly sharp cihn, accompanying her was a purple haired girl with a long sidetail, she was thin, but not as tall as the other one.

"Zuikaku, sir." The green haired one saluted, putting her bow on her back.

"Akebono, at your service." The other one said, going to open the door for us after we showed our identification. "Right this way, Commander Ezra." She spoke with a strange tone than I couldn't put my finger on, even kept looking back at us for some reason, maybe she didn't trust us.

"Kairos!" I was ecstatic, it had only been like, a week, but I missed him.

"..." He signed a few things to his girls, then me, it was 'Greetings.'

"I'll be translating for him," Came a small voice; and from an even smaller person! I hadn't even noticed her when I came in. "I'm Ryuujou, it's nice to meet you, sir Ezra." She saluted, and we began to talk.

"How you doing, man?" I'm not professional, or formal in the slightest, and starting off with anything else would make me look like I was only scouting competition.

"Very good, how are your endeavors?" The girl spoke, making the same gestures the bear man would. I saw Kuma going to stand next to her and hoped she wasn't going to do anything bad.

"They're great. I look forward to working with you, the time we've known each other is short, but-"

"What'd you say, mophead?" Ryuujou growled, making a fist with her small hand.

"What-" I tried to interrupt and inquire, but I was thrown back by a punch. I wasn't knocked over, surprisingly, but my chest was hurting, now.

"Why, kuma?!" The short cruiser exclaimed, running over to me, checking if I was okay.

"You said he was calling me short!" The little brown haired girl retorted, coming over to get in her face.

"Did not I said he was thinking it, kuma!" She flailed, folding her arms.

"That's not what I heard-" She began, but was cut off by Akebono.

"The Commander would like to continue the conversation." The purple haired girl huffed, folding her arms.

"Don't worry about it, Ryuujou." I smirked, giving her a thumbs up. "I am, kind of the king of scumbags." I assured her, but she still looked displeased.

"No, that's the Cody guy we met earlier." Ryuujou continued, translating for our boy.

"I can't confirm, yet. But, regardless. I was wondering if you wanted to do anything, or if you needed any help?" I asked, because we seemed pretty far in our progress. I also found myself subconsciously patting Kuma's head.

"We could use the spare ammo..." Ryuujou sounded ashamed, but we just nodded. "And, if you're up for it, we could have dinner the next time there's a festival, Niho will be there, too."

"Of course, I'd love to get to know the both of you more." I smiled, and turned to Kongou, "Hey, can you get us a tenth of our ammunition?" 1000 is enough to spare, and won't hurt us at all.

"Thank you, sir Ezra." Ryuujou said, and everyone bowed their heads. And I felt pretty good about myself. "Is there anything else you'd like to talk about?" She continued, folding her hands onto her legs.

"Uh, yeah, but it's more private, if you don't mind." I hoped he wouldn't, there was some important stuff I wanted to ask.

"Of course." He signed, jumping from his chair and then going to leave with me.

**[FUBUKI]**

Ezra had left us alone, so now we were all just looking at each other. The awkward silence didn't last, though. Kongou's voice cut through it like an 1000° degree knife through a shoe.

"Hey!" She smiled at everyone, pointing at herself with her thumbs. "I'm Kongou! It's good to meet you all." Her fists were on her hips now, and she looked so prideful.

"Zuikaku of the 5th carrier division." The green twintailed girl stepped up, smiling at us, too.

"Aoba of the 1st expedition fleet." Our purple haired friend stepped up, hands in the pockets of her shorts.

"Tone, Cruiser Division 6." The other twintailed girl, but her hair was dark brown, and her voice wasn't as nasally. She sounded pretty serious and was actually pretty intimidating.

"I'm Kuma, kuma!" Our airheaded friend marched up, too, not introducing herself like everyone else did.

"Ryuujou." The small girl stepped up, giving us a salute.

"Fubuki, first of the special type destroyers!" It was my turn, I guess. I tried to sound confident, and succeeded, nobody gave me any weird looks; and that was enough for me.

"Murakumo, the best of the Fubuki class.." My sister ship spoke, her commanding tone almost making me shake like usual.

"Hagikaze, good to meet you." I forgot about her, really, she was so quiet, shier than me, I'd say.

"Amatsukaze, good to meet you, too." A new voice, this time. She also seemed quiet. "And this is Kasumi." She smiled, gesturing to the sweater-clad girl, who just waved and gave us all a thumbs up.

"Oh, yeah!" I went forward, going to ask the secretary, my sister, how the mission went. "How was your first sortie? Ours lasted like, six hours." Hands in my skirt pockets, I remembered the event, almost dying and stuff. It was terrible.

"Six hours?!" She almost choked on her own spit, looking at me. "How weak are you guys?!" My sister hand her hands on her knees.

"If so, why are only three of you level 10?" Akebono interrupted, looking at us like we just killed her Commander.

"We only constructed them after that, kuma." She smiled, informing them even more of our idiocy.

"You spent six hours out there with two destroyers and a light cruiser?" Zuikaku put her hands on the table, leaning over it to glare at us. "Is your Commander crazy? Why'd he let you do that?" She also looked livid. But I didn't understand.

"Well, no, Kuma dragged us out while he was getting supplies." I stepped in, folding my arms, and not wavering.

"And you guys didn't die?" The green haired girl continued, her mouth kind of half-open.

"No,we even beat a big bad boss Abyssal, she was a torpedo cruiser, kuma!" She flexed, pulling me and Hagikaze in for a big squeeze.

"Y-You've seen a human shaped one?" Ryuujou's eyes were wide, and she stepped back.

"Yeah, we blasted her to hell." Hagikaze was up now, too, and she looked pretty proud, just like Kuma and I did.

"I'm impressed, sister." Murakumo said to me, walking over and poking me in the nose. "You're actually competent."

"Yeah, I'm better than you right now." I said, making my wrist-mounted cannon appear, and poking her with it. A five level difference wasn't much to scoff at, especially with how much more potential I had.

"Wh-When did you get so confident?" She growled, trying to get in my face some more, but I just got in hers. Maybe I was hanging around Ezra too much. "O-Okay..." She stepped back, and went back by the desk. Just then, the door was thrown open.

"What's up, BITCHES?!" It was Ezra, he came up behind me, and lifted me up, setting me on his shoulder.

"C-Commander!" I was caught off guard, so I could only cling onto his head.

"Hey, Fubuki. Me and Kairos finished talking so we're leaving." He said, gesturing to everyone and then walking out. I heard my sister laugh while he carried me out; whatever, I was cooler than her anyway. When we got into the truck, he put me down next to him, and fell asleep as soon as the truck started moving. I wanted to talk to him, but I guess not…


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five: Sortie Two and Land Excursion

**[EZRA]**

There was noise from the kitchen upon my awakening the day after we returned from Kairos', and my immediate thought was 'fuck off, go back to bed,' but, that wasn't the case. I had to get up.

"Girls!" I raised my voice upon entering the kitchen, watching them freeze as I made my entry. There was someone I didn't recognize, so I assumed that was the construction I authorized last night. The new girl greeted me with lots of gusto.

"I'm Kiso, of the Kuma class cruisers!" She saluted, her green hair flowing in some non existent wind. "I'll bestow upon you the absolute best victory!" Kiso smirked, and gave me a thumbs up. I bought it for now, and inquired;

"What are you all doing?" I folded my arms, looking at everyone. They were still in morning mode, messy hair and stuff, Aoba's clothes were half on, too.

"Making breakfast." Kongou told me, gesturing to the wealth of food on the table. They made waffles and pancakes, along with some tea, biscuits, and sausage.

"Valid." I responded, going to sit down and eat. Everyone joined, and it was a good morning. We talked about plans for the day, and decided it was time to continue with the next mission. We had cleared the area around our shore, so now we had to go out, according to Ooyodo at least. So we decided on 1200 miles from base.

"Orders received, commander." Fubuki assured me, giving a salute, then going to lead our squad. It was 1:00 PM when they set out. I waved them off and went to do commander things.

**[Fubuki]**

I was leading for some reason, maybe he is an incompetent commander. Regardless, I had to do my best.

"Just stay spread out," I started, watching everyone spread, "We're not gonna be out as long, but still keep your guard up."

"I've got you guys, don't worry." Kongou assured us, crossing her arms and giving us a charismatic smirk. And I trusted her, she was pretty tough from what I heard, and she wouldn't be so sure if she was weak. Nothing really happened, until we actually got to where Ooyodo told us to go, it was one but it was really big towards the head area, like it was wearing a crown.

"Fire." I commanded, before it could see us, most of our shots hit, and we crippled it, damaging its head, and watching some aircraft fall from it, some were launched though, but we managed to take care of it, even using some of our own to hit it.

"Hopeless..." It said, before collapsing. It had no guns so we had nothing to worry.

"Get some of it, Kuma!" She rushed past me, grabbing part of the crown, including a "tooth" of some sort. She waved it as us before storing it in her pocket.

"Why does the commander collect those things?" Aoba sounded curious, folding her arms and swerving back around to lead us on the return to the base.

"Says they're interesting." I shrugged, keeping watch for anything that might get us, and there was some stuff, but Kongou kicked one and it exploded so we were fine. We survived with minimal damage, except for Kiso, she tried to cut one but got blasted point blank. We'll have to chill with her in repairs. That was it, though. Now that we know that we're not supposed to go on a killing run, we can systematically eliminate them without much risk to ourselves. When we got back to the base, he was waiting for us, along with Ooyodo. They were talking and he clearly said something stupid, because she was looking at him with her hands spread a bit.

"We're back!" Aoba smiled, landing gracefully then going to squeeze him. She was first, but everyone got a big hug and a check for damages. None of were hit too hard, but he told us to repair anyway. While we were waiting, we discussed our plans for the future, even though it was from being here, the war just begun after all. I wanted to live my life with the Commander, Kuma wants to travel the world with Kiso, Kongou wants to be a scientist, and Hagikaze wants to be an adjutant for someone else if Ezra actually ends, and Aoba- Wait, where was Aoba? I looked around, but she wasn't with us. I decided to get out and check. Aoba had him pinned to the wall, her arms by his shoulders so he couldn't move.

"Hey!" I went over and smacked the back of her head, and she pulled away, shrugging.

"I was just making sure he was okay." Aoba lied as I walked her back to the docks. She joined us, leaning back and relaxing as our equipment repaired.

"She's making moves on the commander while we're in here." I told them, Kuma spit water at her, but Hagikaze put her hand on the shorter girl's head before she could do anything else.

"No, don't do that." She waved her finger, but Kuma was still unamused.

"The commander is ours, we should share him Kuma." Her ahoge twitched when she talked, and her arms folded beneath her chest.

"He's not gonna share all of us." Aoba shook her head, folding her arms, looking pouty. "I know he likes you, Fubuki, you've known him the longest and it's not fair."

"Not fair? It's not my fault." I protested, not even believing her; he just cares a lot about his starter ship is all.

**[EZRA]**

They were yelling about something in there, but my mind was too hazy. Aoba's scent filled my nose, and I was extremely disoriented. Doing paperwork was hard, and even harder when everyone was suddenly in my office. Kuma jumped up, and slid across my desk to look me in the eyes.

"Can we go somewhere, kuma?" She asked, giving me her puppy eyes.

"No." I told her, setting her down and going back to my papers. "I have work to do, you goons, but you can do whatever you'd like. I declare you done for the day."

"You haven't had a break since we started." Hagikaze came over, grabbing my wrist so I couldn't write. That was surprising, she's normally pretty meek, especially in my presence. I figured if she was standing for it, I should probably at least see what they wanted to do.

"Fine." I rolled my eyes and got up, being squeezed by my new family. I went to go change, and came back out to see everyone else had changed as well. Fubuki was wearing her blue, dotted dress and white vest. Kongou had some jeans and a white button-up shirt. Aoba was wearing what she usually does, just a color change, black shorts and shirt instead of purple and blue. Kuma, Hagikaze and Kiso decided to work on stuff back at HQ, even though they're primarily the reasons I'm out. Regardless, I was ready for whatever was coming, I hope. We walked to the airport so we could fly to our supply area, it was a personal order, so we had to pick it up ourselves. The plane ride was pleasant, Kongou fell asleep while squeezing my head, so I had a nice shoulder pillow. When I awakened, we were landing. Kongou was hyped to be able to move again, seeing her smile always made me happy. When the pilot said we could leave, she jumped out of her seat and pushed everyone out of the way. I shook Fubuki awake, and she snorted, making me laugh. She and Aoba followed me out, Aoba grabbing my hand when we got down. Most of the initial squad was here, including Cody and someone who looked to be his father.

"It's that guy." Fubuki grunted, her face contorting into a scowl. Her grip on my arm got tighter, like she was gonna take my arm off and beat him with it. I told her it would be fine, he wasn't more than dirt on our boots. I went into the pick-up zone, and when they followed I audibly sighed. The man with Cody came over and put a hand on my shoulder, spinning me getting in my face.

"Is that sigh directed at-" He began, but I cut him off, putting my hand on his face.

"Yes. it was." I laughed, pushing him back. Kongou stepped up, but I put my hand in front of her. "No, you'll be dismantled if you attack a human." Remembering that pissed me off, they're not treated very well by citizens due to being viewed as weapons, so that's just obnoxious that they can't defend themselves. Then this grown man grabs me by the collar, and threatening me with his fist.

"What is the meaning of this?" I heard a familiar voice, and saw a familiar figure tower over our aggressors. It was Niho, with Kairos on his shoulder. I felt a nudge against my arm when Cody and his father turned around, it was Inazuma. She hid behind me, and I got a good view of her bruises, I wanted to take my machete out and give the two in front of me a few, but I couldn't confirm that they were the source. Before the situation could escalate, we were all told to calm down by the Akashi of this sector. I still wasn't used to there being multiple of the same person, but I'll be over it eventually, hopefully. We picked up our special order, a few more repair buckets, and a device to scan Abyssal parts. Inazuma was still holding onto my jacket, so I sent my girls to deliver the stuff while I talked to and Kairos walked out at the same time as my squad, so it was just me, Inazuma, some citizens, with Cody and his father lurking around somewhere.

"What's up, kid?" I smiled, sitting down by the freezers, since we walked to the frozen food section of the area.

"I-I don't wanna stay with them anymore." She choked back her tears, so I tried my best to remain calm as well. I didn't know what to do at all; I ended up hugging her into my jacket and patting her back. "They-"

"What're you doing with my property, hippie?" I felt a tug of my long hair, and then I saw Cody's dad, Thomas. I stood up with Inazuma in my arms and gave him a scowl. I couldn't hit back because I was holding precious cargo, but when he tried to grab me again I slammed my helmeted head against his not helmeted head and I won the exchange. He was only stunned for a bit, though, I didn't do it very hard. I felt Inazuma shake so I didn't want to scare her anymore. We went outside, and I saw Cody getting in Fubuki's way.

"Sir, please move, this is really heavy." When she would try to side-step him, he would just get in her way. I saw Kongou fuming, but she took my orders well, and didn't even raise a hand. I set Inazuma down and ran over, I felt something when I saw the distress in my friend's movements, something that was inhuman in nature. It was black for a moment, but when I came to, Inazuma was hiding behind Niho's shin, terrified of me, now, and the clump of hair in my hand. Cody was on the ground, so I assumed I beat the shit out of him. I was right, some important people were here and were questioning everyone. When they got to me, they looked annoyed.

"Sir, are you aware you're guilty of two accounts of assaulting an officer?" They were clearly misinformed, but I still snarled. They didn't like that very much, and tried to continue talking, but I interrupted them.

"Self defense, you assholes." My tone was unprofessional and disrespectful, but so was this whole situation. "Go in there and ask them for the security footage, or just ask anyone that was there." There was only a slight growl in my voice, so they didn't have any reason to back off.

"Okay… Of course." They walked into the store after telling us all to wait, and when they came back, they told me I wasn't guilty of anything. Watching Inazuma go with them made my blood boil. It even moved Niho, I saw his teeth grit before coming over to me.

"You've done a good thing." He smiled at me, his kind face made me forget my anger for a moment. "You're brave, and foolish, but the brave part is what counts." I couldn't deny what I did was stupid, but it worked, so I don't care. "I think your friend is a bit shaken up, though, you should go to her." He nudged me, and I turned red. After that, he laughed and walked off.

"Fubuki..." I walked over, and she latched onto me with a lot of force. I managed to not fall over, and secured my arms around her small body. I rubbed her back and let her rest her head on my shoulder. "It's okay." My finger moved her chin up so she was looking at me; I gave her my best smile, and she gave me hers. When I looked away from her, Kongou's jaw was dropped.

"Did you see how hard you punched him?!" She was losing it, I could practically see the hype coming from her as she made various gestures to indicate her excitement. "That was awesome!" I was picked up by the british tank of a girl, and held to the sky. It felt weird, but cool at the same time. She put me down and went back to dancing. I had to check on Aoba next, of course. She was nervously shuffling and fiddling in place.

"Hey, Aoba?" I walked over, moving in front of her. "You good?" Trying to be quiet, she looked jumpy.

"I don't like the way that old guy was looking at me." She admitted, shuffling around some more. I was disgusted, naturally, but I held my facial expression back to comfort her.

"I didn't him in general." I snickered, hand on my machete.

"Yeah..." She laughed a bit, too, looking at me, and her eyes lighting up a bit more.

"But, you're mine, so nobody else gets any." That got her, she came over and hugged me, pushing her face into my chest. It was exploiting her to an extent, but it wasn't hurting right now.

"Thanks for protecting us." She smiled, taking my hands from my machete and holding them as she pulled away from me. "Let's go home, yeah?" I obliged, and we got back on the plane. There would be no trial, and I was fine with that. I'll just thrash them harder next time they try something. On the way back, Kongou's arms were around me more than usual. Maybe she could tell I was upset, but I couldn't read her at all, so I couldn't tell. She had her usual happy expression, but she was holding me while I rested. That situation put me on the verge of an anger attack, but her weird plane side-hug made me feel better. When we got home, everyone went to sleep, except me and her. We stayed up in the breakroom watching scary movies. I jumped a bit more than I'd like to be known, but she didn't tease me, outwardly at least. She fell asleep midway through the third movie, so I carried her to bed. After the slow journey, and my arms hurting about as much as Fubuki's, I got into bed as well.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Meeting Niho and Fubuki's First Step

"Rise and shine, commander!" I heard Fubuki's voice, she had shaken me awake. All I could do was gurgle. Then a less pleasant sensation dove onto my chest. A Kuma bomb.

"Morning, kuma!" She slapped my face a few times and I got up, holding her in my arms as I sat. "Breakfast is ready, kuma!" She smiled, pointing to the door, expecting me to carry her this early.

"Sick… I'll be there in a bit." I put Kuma down, and stood up, being interrupted by Fubuki.

"It's okay, sir, I got you a change of clothes." She smiled, offering me my shoulder pads and a spare set of my vibrant clothing. "Kongou and Aoba washed them after yesterday, I'm just bringing them." When I took them from her, she left. I changed into uniform, then entered Mamiya's Cafeteria.

"It's the commander!" Kiso raises her fist to the roof when I walked in, I did the same. After I got my food, I went to sit with Aoba, who was eating by herself.

"Hello, sir." She smiled, offering me her fork. I bit whatever was on it, I couldn't tell; I was still exhausted from yesterday. It tasted good, so I started eating mine. Waffles and some sausage. The waffles were wonderfully buttered, and the sausage was salted, so I was hooked on it instantly. Before I knew it, the food was gone.

"I'll be gone for a few days, but I already have plans made, and I trust you all to be able to do it." It had been at least three months since I started here, I knew they could handle it, and putting Hagikaze in charge; it was perfect. I gave her the mission orders, spotted everyone a hug, then left for the plane. It was only a two hour ride, but it was so lonely. When I arrived, Niho was waiting with Samidare. When I got up, I heard a squeak, my boot had stepped on something.

"Ow, kuma!" I heard that voice, someone had snuck onto the plane with me. When I stepped on something that felt too high to be the floor. The little head of my brutish friend was poking from under my chair.

"Damn it, Kuma." I facepalmed, and sighed. "What're you doing here? I told you to stay back. This is for me to learn sword fighting, so maybe I can be of use if a base attack happens."

"I wanted to, Kuma." Was her response, she slid out from under the chair and hugged me, grabbing onto my arm. "So, I did, I want to learn, too, kuma!" She added, following me out of the plane. On the little landing platform, Niho stood with Samidare. She was talking to him about fixing his sleep, since the events of a few days ago, he seemed messed up about it, too. The gracious man offered us some water, then took us to where we would practice. This guy has a whole dojo built in his base, I was amazed. Kuma was, too, evident by her pointing at everything and telling me how cool it looked. He tossed me a katana made of steel, and unsheathed his; it was made of wood. Samidare did the same with Kuma, Sami's was wooden, and Kuma's was metal. Niho told me to brandish my weapon, so I did. I went to swing it at him, and got knocked over by his foot. I landed on my back and Kuma laughed at me, but Samidare knocked her over, too. Niho told us to be focused, and to watch more than just a weapon in a fight. This was gonna be a lot to learn, but I- we could always come back. Kuma was probably gonna beg to come with me if I didn't welcome her next time. Our progress for that day was about 8 hours long, we both hit our respective trainers, and felt pretty good about ourselves. We learned a few techniques and parts of fighting styles we chose, I couldn't wait to return and continue; but Niho said we should relax. I got to meet his other soldiers, they were all very hospitable, and… pretty. Kuma caught me staring at Nagato and pinched my neck really hard.

"No staring at them, kuma!" She scolded, chopping me in the head with her flat hand as a follow up. "You can only look at us, kuma." The little one explained to me, folding her arms and making me think about Fubuki and Aoba more than anything.

"Fine..." I responded, bemused, picking her up and holding her on my arm.. "I'll only look at you."

"Good, kuma~" I was met with a warm smile, and a crushing hug. I kissed her forehead, and decided on a schedule. We stayed for two more days, and made lots of progress. We were given katanas made from the same materials the abyssals are, Samidare said it could cut through them. I wouldn't put it above her to troll us, though, she's mean. On the way back; I recalled a conversation with Yamashiro.

"You're Ezra, right?" The dark haired girl asked me, approaching after some training. She looked like she had purpose.

"Yeah, I am, what's up?" I turned, and was caught by her beauty, she had bright red eyes and a nice cut of shoulder length black hair. I shook my head and recomposed myself.

"Cody came by earlier, and gave us a few threatening words, then said something about you. Commander Niho told us to stand back, so I didn't hear all of it," the woman began to explain, walking with me as I went to pick up my things. "Please be careful, the commander thinks very highly of you and is already being troubled by the situation with little Inazuma, he'd had to have something bad happen to someone else." She held my hands, and looked at me in the eyes with a familiar passion, I didn't need any more words.

"Of course," I gave her my prideful smirk, and told her what was on my mind; "He's a coward, I may be a bit of a weasel, but at least I have integrity." My free hand turned into a fist, and I held it up ever so slightly, to be right by my face. "Your commander has given me confidence that I can be better, and that not all of my actions are as bad as I perceive them to be." My head was bowed to her, then I boarded the plane with Kuma. She didn't say a word the whole time, just kicked her legs and eventually fell we arrived, it was around midnight; I carried her back inside, strutting in with confidence I'd never had before. However, it was quickly stripped away, what I saw made me almost turn around.

"Hello, commander~!" Fubuki greeted me in a maid outfit, with Aoba at her side, in similar garb. Aoba's was worse, though, it was low cut, and she was leaning forward.

"Goodbye, Fubuki!" I sprinted past them, and to the bunk room. I laid Kuma down, then went out the door. My secretary was waiting for me, just her this time. Fubuki was wearing heels, so she was slightly taller than me; only by an inch or two, though. Despite the attire, she was beautiful, her hair was down, and she had her hands folded to her chest in the cutest manner I had ever seen. She spoke again, but more meekly this time.

"...hello, commander..." If she wasn't at arm's length, I don't think I would have heard her.

"...fubuki..." I whispered back, raising her head since she had lowered in. Her face was cupped in my hands, and she was smiling.

"I missed you, commander!" She threw her arms around me and started giggling, pushing her face into my chest. "Me and Hagikaze took care of everything! You won't have to work for a week! Isn't that great?!"

"Well, duh." I laughed, feeling eased by her excitement, but there was still a knot in my stomach about something. "Hey, Fubuki, can I tell you something?"

"Of course, sir, What's on your mind?" I felt her arms tighten around my upper back, and the courage came to me, I said what I wanted to.

"I love you, Fubuki." My hands moved down, and I pulled her tighter into the embrace we had, squeezing her once more. "You've become so much more confident these past few months, and it's rubbed off on me. Your presence by my side, it just..." I struggled to find words, stuttering over myself like a fool. "It's made me feel different, more whole, I feel powerful, strong, not like before."

"..." She was silent for a moment, but then she put her cheek to mine, and gave me her wide-eyed smile. "You loved me when no one else would. You didn't call me irrelevant, or weak, plain, or basic, you just accepted me." I watched Fubuki choke up for a moment, and almost did it myself, she was so amazing.

**[FUBUKI]**

"Fubuki, I-" I shushed him and kept going, leaning into his arms and beginning to tremble.

"I know what you're gonna say..." My voice lowered in pitch to sort of mock his, "'It's just the right thing to do, I'd do it for anybody.' That's what you were gonna say, and that's exactly it." He looked so dumb, standing there with that blank look on his face. "Nobody else was ncie to me, I was always Whobuki or Potato, but you didn't even consider that, even when I told you, or showed that I sucked." I was crying, now, my heart swelling in my chest. "You loved me… And I love you, too!"

"You're the very best, Fubuki." He put my cheek in his hand and gave me a kiss on the forehead, I was taller, but he was bigger, he wasn't a huge guy or anything, hardly impressive if you'd ask anyone else; but there was something about him, his presence was big, and it made me feel small and secure. "Now, I'm gonna go check on everyone else, I can feel your breath becoming uneven, please get some rest." He pulled me to his bunk, and tucked me into it. He hugged me one more time, then left out the door.

**[EZRA]**

I went to check on everyone else. Kiso had just fallen asleep with her sister, and Hagikaze was asleep in my office. Even though she couldn't hear me, I told her that I loved her. After taking her to bed and getting her situated, I was met with Aoba outside the bunk door, she had changed into her normal clothes.

"Hey, Aoba." I smiled, and offered my arms to her.

"Hey, Commander~~" She smirked, squeezing me and pushing me against the wall. I don't know why I didn't expect it, but her grip was more powerful than mine; I could carry these girls but not fight them. Her body was warm, like usual, but something felt off.

"Aoba, you're hurting me..." My bones cracked a bit at the pressure she gave off, and I couldn't pry her face from my neck. "Aoba, come on." I continued, gently squeezing her shoulder.

"I'm sorry commander, I..." She pulled her head up, looked at me with an odd expression I'd never seen on her face before: Fear. Aoba wasn't crying, but she did look like something was up. "I had a lot of bad dreams, what happened at the supply depot a few days ago still makes me feel sick when I think about it."

"Yeah, I understand; I've had some bad dreams about it myself." I relaxed a bit, feeling assured in knowing she was just as insecure as I was. I put one arm around her waist, and the other on the back of her head. "Well, I won't let any bad dreams become a reality, I'll protect you as much as you protect me."

"Thank you, Ezra." The sultry girl smiled, and pressed herself against me. "What about good dreams? Will my kind and gracious commander make those a reality?"

"I should not have let you confide in me." I joked, keeping my composure, but still feeling the heat that washed over my face. Aoba was more aggressive than Fubuki, that much was certain; so I did what my brain's first instinct told my body to do. I pushed her to the other wall when she had her guard down, and stared into her eyes. "I… I love you Aoba, you know that, of course... " My words were failing me, I didn't know what to say. "But, Fubuki is the girl I wanna kiss, you all have unparalleled beauty, but there's something about her I just can't explain."

"W-Wow… Commander, uh." Aoba was bright red from being countered for once, she too, struggled to find words. "Thank you for being honest..." I could tell she was disappointed, but I knew she was mature enough to handle it. "I love you, too, even if it doesn't get to be the way I want." Her tone changed, she wasn't scared anymore, I could feel her confidence.

"But, we can stay like this, your body feels nice against mine." Nobody could deny the warmth that she had, if I wasn't in love with someone else, I'd be all over her. Her bright blue eyes were encapsulating, and the way her lilac hair fell down to her back would make anyone's face heat up.

"You're so greedy, Commander." She giggled, turning the tables once again and putting me against the wall. "But, I don't mind, really; at least your demeanor is cute." I could not fight back this time, she wasn't going to let her guard down, all I could do was accept it.

"Greedy..? Nah… I just wanna give attention to everyone." I lied, but she got on her toes and leaned her face to mine, I could feel the heat of her breath on my face. "I'd do the same for anyone."

"Yeah, yeah, you'd do the same for anyone." Aoba tugged at my shirt, and planted her lips on my cheek. "Well, I wouldn't do that to just anyone, you're special to me." She insinuated, but I didn't realize it at the time. "Now, I'm tired, I know military personnel can't have such relationships, but you can join my bunk anytime, sir."

"..." I watched her strut past, there and then, her figure was burned into my mind. After that, I went to look for Kongou, she wasn't inside, so I went to the shore. That's where I found her, standing in the water, barefoot and without her leggings. I joined her, after rolling up my pants and discarding my coat of course. I could always count on Kongou to have her stuff together; when I came up, she allowed me under her arm and took me into a hug. I only came up to the bottom of her chest. Kongou was so big, so strong; like a rock that couldn't be moved.

"Hey, Ezra." She smirked at me, her hair was done up like usual, and her uniform was spotless, she held down while I was gone. "Are you feeling okay?" Her excited, hyper vibe was currently replaced with a quiet, calming tone that made me feel tired just being in her presence.

"Yeah, I am; thanks Kongou." I had a soft tone, too, leaning into her moonlit form. "How have you been? Did you hold up okay?" Just had to ask, was better to do so, than to not do so.

"Uh-huh, I'm A-Okay!" She lifted me right off the ground, holding me by my armpits. "You look like you still need to wind-down, wanna walk with me and see some cool stuff on the shore? I explored a bit while you were gone."

"That sounds fun, I'd love to." When she set me down, I started to walk at her side, the cold water feeling nice against my bare feet, and the wind through my curly hair felt nice, too. While she led me around, I thought about my life up until this point; I was in a jar of my own self imposed limits, trapped like an insect to be shown on display somewhere. Now, I feel like a star in the sky, a being of hope for all those behind me. I was something worthwhile to look up to, for once. I'm no star, but I'm certainly on my way to the sky.

"Hey! Hey!" I was brought back from my internal rambling by Kongou's familiar cheer, and her violent shaking of my shoulders. "There's something cool here!" She told me, jumping up and down a bit, then taking me into a shoal cave, the inside of her was prismatic, and reflected light in a way that made me forget to breathe. Kongou started speaking to me again, though. Facing away and making fists with her arms slightly bent in a determined pose, she told me: "I wanna become the strongest shipgirl ever, so nobody else has to do anything. I read about a titan named Atlas while you were gone; he holds the world on his shoulders as a punishment. But, I want to hold up the world, too, on my own merits. You give me power, and so do the others, my dream is to make sure this world is safe for all, so that you and others like you can prosper. I know it's only been about two and a half months that I've been in this world, but I love it already. The people, the animals; everything, I want to keep it all safe." Her head turned, and she gave me her signature grin. I felt small when she finished speaking, my ambitions were puny in comparison, and I could hardly follow them, but she looked all fired up just mentioning them to me.

"I'd never let you shoulder the world alone, you deserve a spot in it, too. You're so selfless despite all that you've seen in such a short timespan." I felt myself beginning to well up, but her steadiness was contagious; my will was steeled, and I put on my cocky smirk. "With your strength, I think you could do anything, your tenacity is viral, Kongou; I never even thought that far ahead, and now I want to do the same, we'll hold up the world with everything we can. This world won't be taken by those things, whatever force is commanding them, we'll find it and make it answer for what it's done." My arms shook, and the colors of the cave began to blend together. No tears fell, but they wanted to, all I could feel was passion that was kindled inside of me by her speech. I stuck my fist out to her, and mustered all my courage. "Together, we'll crush the Abyssals and restore the peace of our world."

"With our determination." She told me, fist connecting with mine and making me feel powerful. "They won't make us afraid anymore, we'll conquer them, I promise." Kongou's hands closed around mine, and she led me from the cave. "Come on, now, you're probably tired from all that outburst, I'll get you to bed."


End file.
